Chapter Six //
Draco had stood silent, watching Ophelia struggling in her deepest of slumbers. She tossed and turned, gripping the sheets as if she were fighting to wake herself, her eyes squinted shut as her body was covered in a dewy sweat. He fought to keep himself from holding her, though the thought that she too had been tainted by his father forced his thoughts to battle within his mind.
She lurched upward, eyes wide and lifeless, boring into the ceiling, her voice was rough as she rambled quietly, leaving Draco with only a few names: Lucius and Voldemort. He lunged at the bed and into her, grabbing her tightly as she shook in a fit of trembles, her eyes falling shut and her nails digging viciously at the pale skinned arms tangled around her small shoulders.
"I have to tell you!" She managed to wheeze out, coughing into his chest as he put his palm to the back of her head. He was strangely calm for his state of shock, and he rocked her gentley, though he wasn't sure why. "I have to tell you..." She coughed, gripping his forearm and staring fearfully up at the gray orbs that shone upon her flushed cheeks. "He's coming for me.. He's going to take me back, he's going to force me back.. he won't stop until he's got all of me! He won't stop!" She tried to go on, but choked on her words, still trembling against Draco's frame.
"Who? My father? I won't let him take you Ophelia... I don't know why but I won't let him take you... ssshh, settle down... please, you're going to hurt yourself," He whispered gentley. To no other person had he been so drawn, to willing to hold and protect. Ophelia was different from those who associated with his Father; she wanted out.
"He gave me away. He gave away my soul. He gave me as a sacrifice to -him-. And he wants me back, the time is now. He's coming for me.," She choked out, her trembling hands were attached to him so tightly that her shaking had forced his limber bones to shake as well. Draco sat silently, trying to put the pieces together.
He was so caught in the moment that he hadn't noticed the dark caped figure lurking at the arched Slytherin chamber doorway. Severus Snape stood standing in utter silence, narrowed ash orbs glinting as he listened. "Draco," His voice was like a low hiss, the kind a kettle makes as its steam is released, and it seemed to echo through the dimly lit room.
Draco jumped in sync with Ophelia and then went completely still, still hanging onto her as if she were in her last moments. "Ophelia I need to go talk to the Professor..." Draco whispered, pulling slowly away from the tiny trembling body he had previously claimed with his arms. Her tiny delicate hand snapped forward, grabbing his wrist and holding it tight.
"Please.. don't leave me for long..." She whispered hoarsely, staring up at him with tearing emerald eyes that pierced his own and made his heart bleed.
"I won't... I promise." Draco wasn't one for promises, but this was one he'd keep. He removed her hand slowly from his wrist, lifted it to his shadowy face and brushed his dry lips against her clammy skin. He watched her smile for the first time ever and he nodded to her, patting her hand and gentley setting it upon the sheets that had been soaked with her sweat.
Snape's eyes narrowed as he folded his arms within his robe and floated gracefully from the room, his jagged chin seeming to narrow as his lips thinned to nothing but a single line. He shuffled silently down the steps, his agile feet soundless to the old creaking wood and entered the center of the common room, snapping his long slender fingertips towards the shaken boy. "Sit," He muttered.
Draco sat without protest and leaned forward with his head within his own trembling hands. "How did you know I was here? With her?" He whispered, almost coldly, as if Snape had intruded on his privacy. Snape paced in front of the beaming fire place and then looked up to Draco with narrowed eyes.
"Mr. Malfoy, both you and Miss deMonte were absent in my class today. You know I don't take that," Snape hissed slightly, but calmed his sudden anger in spite of the boy's current state.
"Did you look at her? Did you hear her? How could I worry about potions when my father is trying to offer my -- .. Ophelia as a .. a sacrifice?" The last words were hard for him, as he wasn't sure who she was being sacrificed to.
"Five years ago your father took in an orphaned girl, just slightly younger than yourself, and offered her a life free of pain." Snape looked at Draco with narrowed eyes and then quietly looked back to the fire before he went on, "Though naive at the time, she offered him her soul in exchange for money, a place to sleep and food. However --- she recieved more than she bargained for."
Draco's head lifted slowly from his hands and he slowly sat up to watch Snape as he fidgeted with the cuff button upon his sleeve and continued, "You do know that you father is what we call a Death Eater, no?" Draco nodded slowly, narrowing his eyes. "Well, the girl's soul was offered as a sacrifice to a rather powerful Dark Lord, who consumed her soul, but allowed her to keep it. Your father, however, had fallen deeply in love with her at the realization of her new power. See when a Dark Lord binds with a pure soul, that soul absorbs some of his power. What the Dark Lord and your father did not know, thank Merlin, is that the soul he bound himself to is indeed the Soceress of the Snake."
Draco's brow arched and sat back, his eyes narrowing as they lowered in thought to the floor. "So Ophelia is the Soceress of the Snake? That must mean she's quite powerful... so why can't she just defeat him?" Draco's voice faultered as his eyes looked to Snape for more answers.
Snape's brows furrowed and he tilted his head, "The heir to the Soceress of the Snake does not recieved full power until her 18th birthday, Draco. Power of such does not come suddenly, it must be accquired over time; through experience and maturity. Until then, she is but another controlled soul. Much like your father... though her willpower seems to be much stronger than his."
"She said that he's on his way. That he's after her. Who was she talking about... Voldemort?" Draco didn't care about the name at this point. If he were to come for her, he would come. And he'd be there waiting.
Snape winced slightly at the name and glanced about the empty common room one more time, "I highly doubt it. At this point, if he's feeding off of her power, he's not nearly strong enough to take form and break the school's barriers. Your father, however, sent me an owl today, and he is on his way to visit you. He said he has a few words for Dumbledore. But we both know that's the last thing on his mind."
Draco knew his father wasn't coming for any other reason than Ophelia. He wasn't sure how he would keep her with him, or avoid his father, but he knew he had to. He wouldn't allow him to take her away, not yet. Not with all these new and amazing feelings her had within. He knew with that alone, he could conquer something great.
Snape strode slowly to the common room entrance and nodded to Draco. "I expect both of you in class tomorrow, get your assignment from Crabbe or Goyle. I will talk to Dumbledore and ask him to allow you to miss classes for the rest of the day. Make sure she eats... the last thing she needs is more weakness. You watch her Draco... you watch her close." With that small and almost threatening lecture, Snape sashayed from the room, the entrance closing slowly behind him.
Draco sat within the desolate common room, thinking and absorbing everything that he was just explained. Though he had a tremendous headache, he stood slowly and made his way upstairs to his chambers, slipping into the darkened room and closing the door softly behind him. He watched the fallen angel sit up quickly, but he strode slowly and whispered, "It's just me... I'm here Ophelia..." and took a seat upon the bed beside her, leaning back against the headboard.
She stared up at him quizically, yet his understanding eyes soothed her. She leaned into his warm frame, her head resitng upon the slight muscular rise at his chest and drew the sheets up around them. Draco pulled the hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear, watching her as she closed her eyes and once again began to fall into her deep, traumatic slumber.
Draco had stood silent, watching Ophelia struggling in her deepest of slumbers. She tossed and turned, gripping the sheets as if she were fighting to wake herself, her eyes squinted shut as her body was covered in a dewy sweat. He fought to keep himself from holding her, though the thought that she too had been tainted by his father forced his thoughts to battle within his mind.
She lurched upward, eyes wide and lifeless, boring into the ceiling, her voice was rough as she rambled quietly, leaving Draco with only a few names: Lucius and Voldemort. He lunged at the bed and into her, grabbing her tightly as she shook in a fit of trembles, her eyes falling shut and her nails digging viciously at the pale skinned arms tangled around her small shoulders.
"I have to tell you!" She managed to wheeze out, coughing into his chest as he put his palm to the back of her head. He was strangely calm for his state of shock, and he rocked her gentley, though he wasn't sure why. "I have to tell you..." She coughed, gripping his forearm and staring fearfully up at the gray orbs that shone upon her flushed cheeks. "He's coming for me.. He's going to take me back, he's going to force me back.. he won't stop until he's got all of me! He won't stop!" She tried to go on, but choked on her words, still trembling against Draco's frame.
"Who? My father? I won't let him take you Ophelia... I don't know why but I won't let him take you... ssshh, settle down... please, you're going to hurt yourself," He whispered gentley. To no other person had he been so drawn, to willing to hold and protect. Ophelia was different from those who associated with his Father; she wanted out.
"He gave me away. He gave away my soul. He gave me as a sacrifice to -him-. And he wants me back, the time is now. He's coming for me.," She choked out, her trembling hands were attached to him so tightly that her shaking had forced his limber bones to shake as well. Draco sat silently, trying to put the pieces together.
He was so caught in the moment that he hadn't noticed the dark caped figure lurking at the arched Slytherin chamber doorway. Severus Snape stood standing in utter silence, narrowed ash orbs glinting as he listened. "Draco," His voice was like a low hiss, the kind a kettle makes as its steam is released, and it seemed to echo through the dimly lit room.
Draco jumped in sync with Ophelia and then went completely still, still hanging onto her as if she were in her last moments. "Ophelia I need to go talk to the Professor..." Draco whispered, pulling slowly away from the tiny trembling body he had previously claimed with his arms. Her tiny delicate hand snapped forward, grabbing his wrist and holding it tight.
"Please.. don't leave me for long..." She whispered hoarsely, staring up at him with tearing emerald eyes that pierced his own and made his heart bleed.
"I won't... I promise." Draco wasn't one for promises, but this was one he'd keep. He removed her hand slowly from his wrist, lifted it to his shadowy face and brushed his dry lips against her clammy skin. He watched her smile for the first time ever and he nodded to her, patting her hand and gentley setting it upon the sheets that had been soaked with her sweat.
Snape's eyes narrowed as he folded his arms within his robe and floated gracefully from the room, his jagged chin seeming to narrow as his lips thinned to nothing but a single line. He shuffled silently down the steps, his agile feet soundless to the old creaking wood and entered the center of the common room, snapping his long slender fingertips towards the shaken boy. "Sit," He muttered.
Draco sat without protest and leaned forward with his head within his own trembling hands. "How did you know I was here? With her?" He whispered, almost coldly, as if Snape had intruded on his privacy. Snape paced in front of the beaming fire place and then looked up to Draco with narrowed eyes.
"Mr. Malfoy, both you and Miss deMonte were absent in my class today. You know I don't take that," Snape hissed slightly, but calmed his sudden anger in spite of the boy's current state.
"Did you look at her? Did you hear her? How could I worry about potions when my father is trying to offer my -- .. Ophelia as a .. a sacrifice?" The last words were hard for him, as he wasn't sure who she was being sacrificed to.
"Five years ago your father took in an orphaned girl, just slightly younger than yourself, and offered her a life free of pain." Snape looked at Draco with narrowed eyes and then quietly looked back to the fire before he went on, "Though naive at the time, she offered him her soul in exchange for money, a place to sleep and food. However --- she recieved more than she bargained for."
Draco's head lifted slowly from his hands and he slowly sat up to watch Snape as he fidgeted with the cuff button upon his sleeve and continued, "You do know that you father is what we call a Death Eater, no?" Draco nodded slowly, narrowing his eyes. "Well, the girl's soul was offered as a sacrifice to a rather powerful Dark Lord, who consumed her soul, but allowed her to keep it. Your father, however, had fallen deeply in love with her at the realization of her new power. See when a Dark Lord binds with a pure soul, that soul absorbs some of his power. What the Dark Lord and your father did not know, thank Merlin, is that the soul he bound himself to is indeed the Soceress of the Snake."
Draco's brow arched and sat back, his eyes narrowing as they lowered in thought to the floor. "So Ophelia is the Soceress of the Snake? That must mean she's quite powerful... so why can't she just defeat him?" Draco's voice faultered as his eyes looked to Snape for more answers.
Snape's brows furrowed and he tilted his head, "The heir to the Soceress of the Snake does not recieved full power until her 18th birthday, Draco. Power of such does not come suddenly, it must be accquired over time; through experience and maturity. Until then, she is but another controlled soul. Much like your father... though her willpower seems to be much stronger than his."
"She said that he's on his way. That he's after her. Who was she talking about... Voldemort?" Draco didn't care about the name at this point. If he were to come for her, he would come. And he'd be there waiting.
Snape winced slightly at the name and glanced about the empty common room one more time, "I highly doubt it. At this point, if he's feeding off of her power, he's not nearly strong enough to take form and break the school's barriers. Your father, however, sent me an owl today, and he is on his way to visit you. He said he has a few words for Dumbledore. But we both know that's the last thing on his mind."
Draco knew his father wasn't coming for any other reason than Ophelia. He wasn't sure how he would keep her with him, or avoid his father, but he knew he had to. He wouldn't allow him to take her away, not yet. Not with all these new and amazing feelings her had within. He knew with that alone, he could conquer something great.
Snape strode slowly to the common room entrance and nodded to Draco. "I expect both of you in class tomorrow, get your assignment from Crabbe or Goyle. I will talk to Dumbledore and ask him to allow you to miss classes for the rest of the day. Make sure she eats... the last thing she needs is more weakness. You watch her Draco... you watch her close." With that small and almost threatening lecture, Snape sashayed from the room, the entrance closing slowly behind him.
Draco sat within the desolate common room, thinking and absorbing everything that he was just explained. Though he had a tremendous headache, he stood slowly and made his way upstairs to his chambers, slipping into the darkened room and closing the door softly behind him. He watched the fallen angel sit up quickly, but he strode slowly and whispered, "It's just me... I'm here Ophelia..." and took a seat upon the bed beside her, leaning back against the headboard.
She stared up at him quizically, yet his understanding eyes soothed her. She leaned into his warm frame, her head resitng upon the slight muscular rise at his chest and drew the sheets up around them. Draco pulled the hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear, watching her as she closed her eyes and once again began to fall into her deep, traumatic slumber.